Gaming machines which provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. Gaming machines generally require the player to place or make a wager to activate the primary or base game. In many of these gaming machines, the award is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or symbol combination and on the amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the wager, the higher the award). Symbols or symbol combinations which are less likely to occur usually provide higher awards.
In such known gaming machines, the amount of the wager made on the base game by the player may vary. For instance, the gaming machine may enable the player to wager a minimum number of credits, such as one credit (e.g., one penny, nickel, dime, quarter or dollar) up to a maximum number of credits, such as five credits. This wager may be made by the player a single time or multiple times in a single play of the primary game. For instance, a slot game may have one or more paylines and the slot game may enable the player to make a wager on each payline in a single play of the primary game. Thus, it is known that a gaming machine, such as a slot game, may enable players to make wagers of substantially different amounts on each play of the primary or base game ranging, for example, from 1 credit up to 125 credits (e.g., 5 credits on each of 25 separate paylines). This is also true for other wagering games, such as video draw poker, where players can wager one or more credits on each hand and where multiple hands can be played simultaneously. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that different players play at substantially different wagering amounts or levels and at substantially different rates of play.
Secondary or bonus games are also known in gaming machines. The secondary or bonus games usually provide an additional award to the player. Secondary or bonus games usually do not require an additional wager by the player to be activated. Secondary or bonus games are generally activated or triggered upon an occurrence of a designated triggering symbol or triggering symbol combination in the primary or base game. For instance, a bonus symbol occurring on the payline on the third reel of a three reel slot machine may trigger the secondary bonus game. Part of the enjoyment and excitement of playing certain gaming machines is the occurrence or triggering of the secondary or bonus game (even before the player knows how much the bonus award will be).
Known gaming machines also enable a player to place different wager amounts wherein the player is eligible for the bonus game on any of these different wager amounts. In certain of these gaming machines, to provide that players that wager more on a play of a base game are provided a greater bonus game award, such gaming machines increase, in proportion to the wager amount placed on the base game, the bonus game awards available for any bonus game triggered in association with that play of the base game. For example, the greater the amount a player wagers on a play of a base game, the greater a multiplier that gaming machine will utilize to determine a bonus game award for any bonus game triggered in association with that play of the base game. In certain other gaming machines, to provide that players that wager more on a play of a base game are provided a greater chance to play a bonus game (and thus obtain a bonus game award), such gaming machines increase, in proportion to the wager amount placed on the base game, the probability that a bonus game will trigger in association with that play of the base game. For example, the greater the amount a player wagers on a play of a base game, the greater the probability that the gaming machine will trigger a bonus game (and provide the player a bonus game award in the triggered bonus game) in association with that play of the base game.
While modifying the bonus game awards available in proportion to the base game wager or modifying the probability of triggering a bonus game in proportion to the base game wager provide a benefit to players that wager more on a play of a base game, such a configuration does not accurately correspond to certain players' level of game play over a designated period of time. That is, since certain players vary the amount of their wager from one play of a base game to another, such a configuration only accounts for the player's last wager amount placed and not a plurality of different wager amounts placed over the designated period of time. For example, if a player that previously wagered a first wager amount on twenty-four plays of a base game wagers a second, lesser wager amount on one play of a base game and the bonus game is triggered in association with that one, lesser wagered play of the game, the parameters of the bonus game (i.e., the bonus game awards available) will not accurately reflect the player's level of game play over the previous twenty-five plays of the base game. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a gaming system that solves such problems.
There is also a continuing need to provide new and different gaming machines and gaming systems as well as new and different ways to provide awards to players including bonus awards.